Getting at the G.I.S.T. of the intestinal bleeding I had in Thailand

     Back in the middle of March I got sick on the island of Ko Phi Phi and discovered that I had intestinal bleeding. Here's the blog post that tells that story.

     When I went to the clinic I was told that it could be serious and that I needed to get a colonoscopy and endoscopy to try to find the source of the bleeding.   After leaving the clinic I went online and booked a ticket home.  This thing was really throwing a wrench in my plans.  Going home now to deal with this medical stuff was sure to delay the whole stainless steel Dance project which was already running behind schedule.

      By the next morning I the diarrhea was gone and I was feeling pretty good.  Since the blood test showed I wasn't anemic and I quickly got over the diarrhea and the intestinal bleeding stopped I figured that it was not an emergency and I could take a few more weeks to finish up the foundry work in Bangkok before going home and getting the medical procedures done.   I cancelled the flight home and had a wonderful two weeks of R&R on Ko Phi Phi before returning to Bangkok to finish up the Dance.

      I had the colonoscopy and endoscopy done here at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital on May 28,  just a few days before I headed off for Reunions at Princeton and Fieldston.   Doing the endoscopy  Dr. Pieter Pil discovered some sort of "mass" in my stomach.   He wanted me to go up to Mass General right away to get biopsy taken along with an ultrasound to find out how big the mass was, but since I had the Reunions trip all scheduled we made the appointment for June 7th.

The Tigers alway look forward to road trips and a party weekend

Great to see my old Fieldston classmates

Barbara and Peter were great hosts (as always!). What a great place to hang  out with friend on a beautiful spring day.

The '66 Tigers led our class in the P-Rade

     I was looking forward to a fun Party Weekend with lots of dancing to all the different live bands, but  knowing there was some unknown tumor down there in my stomach it was hard not to keep that gray cloud of depression fully at bay.   I didn't talk to anyone about the tumor in my stomach.  There seemed to be no point since we didn't know much about it other than that there was some sort of "mass"growing on my stomach.  It was also a bummer just to think about it.

     Around midnight Saturday night I went to check on the Tigers and see about whether I would load them into my van then or wait until morning.  When I got to the 55th Reunion Headquarters in the courtyard of Scully Hall the band had already left (the younger classes keep drinking and dancing until at least 1AM).   A cleanup crew was packing up the tables and chairs.  There were no "Security" people to be seen since everything valuable (except the Tigers) had been, or was being removed.   I thought about getting my van and packing up the Tigers.  But the van was parked a 20 minute walk away,  I was  feeling really tired and depressed and besides having to to talk my way into getting the van onto the campus to get to Scully Hall I wasn't sure anyone would be around by the time I actually got back to Scully to help me load the Tigers back in and on the back of the van; not something I can do by myself. Then it began to rain.

     Stupidly I hadn't even remembered to bring my my bike lock so I could chain the two Tigers together.   I pulled them into a cul de sac entryway to Wilf Hall where they were pretty much out of sight,  walked back in the rain to Plohn's were I was staying, and went to sleep.

    On Sunday morning when I went to load up the Tigers I discovered that the B-Ball Tiger had been stolen during the night.   It took a while, but the Tiger was found, smashed and abandoned in the bushes along Elm Drive.   The Maintenance Staff had found him and brought him to their facility where they helped me load him into the van (now an ambulance).

     How much would you like to bet that the thief was (thieves were): 1.  Male.   2.  White.   3.  Privileged  4.  Drunk.   5.   Princetonian(s) ?

     There are  good things about Princetonians, but their sense of entitlement isn't one of them.   Especially when it is combined with greed and alcohol.    Many studies have shown that the rich and entitled are more likely to cheat,  and why not not?   They almost never have to pay the consequences.  This particular thief(s),  after the Tiger fell over and was smashed,  wasn't even about to leave empty handed so he stole the spinning Basketball even though the basketball was totally useless since it has holes punched in the top and bottom and was filled with foam (and didn't even say Princeton or anything special on it).

The basketball is gone.  It had the 1/4" rod sticking up through it.

            It was a long drive back to the Vineyard.  Generally I like to look on the "Bright Side of Life", but it was hard not to think the upcoming endoscopy / ultra-sound / biopsy at MGH as well as to question my choice to have it  put it off so I could go to Reunions.  Obviously the smashed Tiger in the. back of the van wouldn't have been stolen....   And how stupid was I not remember  to bring my bike lock chain?   The basketball probably would have been stolen (for the second time!), but that's not that much work to replace... And, of course, I should not have not wimped out late Saturday night and instead at least should have tried loading the Tigers  into the van, though I would have needed help and It looked like the cleanup crew might all be gone by the time I got back with the van...  And, why didn't I plan ahead?  Also, two days after the procedure at MGH  the container ship with my big stainless steel Dance aboard was due to arrive in NY on the 9th   And, assuming that we could put off dealing with whatever the doctors found, I was going to have to pick it up and take it to Bethesda and install it, not the easiest thing to do..     And if they found something serious and wanted to operate right away....  What a mess that would be.      

                                                               (to be continued)